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THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON JANUARY 4

1962--Mersey Beat magazine publishes its first group popularity poll and The Beatles are solid winners over the nearest competitors Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and Johnny Sandon and the Searchers. A photo of The Beatles appears on the front page, along with their names, but Paul's last name is misspelled as 'McArtrey.'

1963--On a short tour of Scotland, The Beatles perform at the Town Hall in Dingwall.

1964--The Beatles perform at the Astoria Cinema, Finsbury Park, London. Appearing in two performances of "The Beatles' Christmas Show."

1964--Billboard gives The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand a spotlight review: "This is the hot British group that has struck gold overseas. Side A is a driving rocker with surf-on-the-Thames sound and strong vocal work from the group."

1965--The Beatles put on two performances of "Another Beatles Christmas Show" at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1965--Fender Guitars is sold to CBS for $13 million. Fender guitars, along with Gibsons, are a favorite brand among rock and rollers.

1970--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). Paul, George, and Ringo re-work Let it Be. Harmony vocals are added by George, Paul, and Linda McCartney (an interestingnote: one of Paul's big complaints about the Phil Spector version of The Long and Winding Road was the inclusion of female voices in the choir; McCartney stated that he would never have put female voices on a Beatles recording!). Then an overdub with two trumpets, two trombones, and a tenor saxophone is recorded. Finally, a new lead guitar solo is recorded by George, the previous one being wiped. The lead guitar solo is clearly different on the two versions of Let It Be released on single (solo from April 30, 1969) and the album (solo from this day). The difference leads many listeners to conclude that the versions are two completely different takes, but that is not the case. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. [Note: the final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969.]

1975--The #1 single in the US is Elton John's Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds. John Lennon plays guitar and sings on the single (using the pseudonym Dr. Winston O'Boogie).

1976--At his Los Angeles motel apartment at 8122 West 4th Street, Mal Evans, long time friend and former roadie / bodyguard of The Beatles, is shot to death by police lieutenant Charles Higbie (of the LAPD robbery and homocide division). In a drunken stupor, Mal had become uncontrollably violent, appeared to be attempting suicide, and pointed a rifle at the officer, who, in self-defense, then shot him six times, four bullets hitting Mal. His new girlfriend, Fran Hughes, with whom he was living, found him upset and despondent, and when friends couldn't get Evans to release the unloaded rifle he was holding, they called police. Mal had recently separated from his wife, Lili Evans, who had reportedly asked him for a divorce just before Christmas. Mal was working on a book about his time with The Beatles, entitled "Living with The Beatles Legend," which was scheduled to be delivered to the publisher, Grosset & Dunlap, on January 12. He was 40 years old. When John Lennon was told of Mals death, he broke down in tears.

1979--With Beatlemania continuing throughout the world, the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, where The Beatles gained a lot of their early experience, reopens.

1982--A profile on Paul McCartney appears in the British paper, The Times. Included in the piece, which carries the lengthy headline Living With The Beatles Legacy...The Smears That Lennon Left Behind...And The Battle To Win My Babies Back, Paul is quoted as saying: If I could get John Lennon back, Id ask him to undo this legacy and to tell everybody what he told Yoko--that he still liked me after all!

1983--BBC1 screens the 50-minute documentary "Beatlemania," which takes a close look at past and present Beatlemaniacs, many of whom are seen at American and Liverpool Beatles fan conventions.

1991--Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Lenny Kravitz discuss updating Give Peace A Chance as a response to the outbreak of the Gulf War. Over the next week, they tape a new recording of Lennons 1969 peace anthem, with more than twenty notable pop and rock performers. It is released on January 15 and is credited to the "Peace Choir."

1998-- The ITV network in the UK broadcasts the 58-minute documentary "The Story of Abbey Road," a program looking at the conception and history of the world famous recording studio. Besides interviews with such pop luminaries as Paul McCartney, George Martin, Pink Floyd, and The Shadows, the show also features The Beatles former drummer, Pete Best, returning to the studios for the first time in 34 years.